Ava walked through her office doors and immediately opened the bottom left drawer. She needed a cigarette. She hasn't smoked since Alex was sent to the Glade. 2 months, almost 3, it felt like 3 years. She sent her staff home for the day. The night staff was coming to relief and her own 2nd in command would be coming shortly. The first thing she'll do is take a shower. Wash all the blood off her hands and face. She'll need a new lab coat. When the lights finally came on six shredded bodies laid on the floor. There was a thin film of blood on the ground that sloshed a bit when you walked. The Grievers had shut down. 10 people were wounded and 3 were stung. People came down to take the bodies and the doctors took care of the wounded in the hospital. Her subordinates were pissed. Friends were lost. Ava always separate herself from other people so she didn't know any of the dead and injured. It's been that way since she sent her daughter away. As bad as she felt for her people a part of her was pleased that this happened. This experiment had tuned into a sick game where they played god. There wasn't any empathy for these kids. When one died they'd shrug and continue with their work. Each kid that died had friends too. The pain her people were feeling right now had been present in the Glade for years. Hopefully this'll remind everyone that this experiment was life and death. They were doing this to find a cure, not sit on their hands and watch kids run around a maze all day.

There was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said.

Her second, William, entered. A balding middle aged man and graying beard, a more typical look around the experiment control center. The only thing that separated him from the others his age was his fitness. He ran everyday. He tried to convince her to try it sometime. Theory was that it cleared the mind.

"Sarah filled me in on the drive here," he said. "You look like hell."

"I feel like hell."

"Go home and get some rest," he said. "You need sleep."

"Let me just finish this," she replied lighting her cigarette.

Will watched her blow a puff of smoke disapprovingly.

"You know there are other ways to relive stress."

"I used to run track and field in school before the flare," Paige mentioned. "I was pretty good. But every time I ran in a track meet I never felt as good as lighting a cig."

"That explains why Alex is so fast," he remarked.

"The only good thing I've ever given her," Paige returned. "I saw her. We ran into each other and her face was an inch from mine. She didn't even know who I was. She doesn't know what her own mother looks like."

Her cigarette trembled in her hand.

"I'm not sure I can do this anymore, Will," she said. "I can't run this experiment with my daughter in the middle of it all."

"But we need you," he attested. "You run WICKED. The experiment won't succeed without you."

"If Alex dies…I just can't."

"How is she?"

"Her and the boy, Jeremy, are in the rubble," she answered. "We lost track of them. I never should've sent her to that damned Glade."

"She's immune to the flare and she's brilliant," Will said. "You did the right thing. Remember this is for the cure. Our existence depends on what we do here."

There has to be another way," she replied.

"We looked at all other options," Will affirmed. "You know this."

Ava didn't say anything. All she could think about was her daughter, her face dirtied, her eyes darker. She'd known terror and seen death. The wide-eyed shy girl she sent away was gone forever.

"I'm going home," she said flicking the cig butt in the trashcan. She rose from her chair and brushed past him heading for the door.

"You should try going for a run, Ava," he said. "Try it once and if you don't like I won't bother you about smoking again."

"If I have time I'll try," she answered before walking out the door.

Max almost ran into a wall of rock He stopped and blocked Natalie from walking into it when she appeared behind him.

"Whoa," she drew back. "When did that get there?"

"No idea," he answered.

He made his way around the wall. When he reach the end around the corner he stopped. He stood motionless his brain slow to accept what his eyes were telling him.

"At least the vines are on still on this wall," Natalie remarked. "We can still get back"

"Natalie, look at this."

She didn't like the tone of his voice. When she moved next to him and looked her mouth fell open.

An ocean of fallen rock and screwed metal poles stuck out of the earth for as far as they could see. Mountains of shattered stone and slab protruded sharply from the ground. Boulders tumbled from the slops like a gray stampedes. The boy's glade was barley visible in the distance, the green grass standing out from the gray and black around the two runners.

"What happened?" Natalie murmured. "What the…"

Max rose his hand stopping her mid-sentence.

"You hear that?" he said.

They both listened. Screaming.

"Yeah," Natalie said pointing to their right. "It's coming from that way."

The two runners ran to the source, jumping over broken rocks and puts. The screaming sent chills up Max's spine. Whoever that was was in a lot of pain.

They stopped and tuned their ears again. It was coming from below.

"Hello?" Max shouted. "Who's down there?"

The screams continued. It was a girl's scream. Max imagined the worse. Her leg pinned under hundreds of tons of rock.

"Hello!" Max shouted at the top of his lungs. "We're up here!"

The screams lowered, no more like muffled.

"Hello?" came a boy's voice from underground.

"Yeah, we're here!" Natalie yelled.

"Natalie," the voice answered. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me and Max!" she replied. "Who are you?"

"Jeremy," he returned. "I'm with Alex. A griever did something to her and she's in a lot of pain. We need to get her to the doctor."

There was a lot of debris between them. It'd take a lot more muscle. They'd need the whole Glade.

"We'll need more people," Natalie said reading his mind.

"Yeah," Max returned. "You go back. I'll stay."

She nodded and ran back to the wall with the vines.

"This is Max," he called. "I'm staying here with you guys until Natalie comes back with help!"

"Ok, we'll sit tight!" Jeremy shouted back.

"Will Alex hold out?"

"She'll make it," Jeremy replied.

Jeremy glanced down at Alex. Her breaths came out in rasps. He took off his shirt and dabbed the sweat off her forehead. She was ghostly white and her lips had a tinge of blue. Her eyes were bloodshot and blue veins spread from her shoulder through her chest down to her thigh. He didn't want to look away from her. If he turned away and then looked back she could be dead. Every hour she'd go through a pain session and all he could do was clutch her hand as she screamed. He should be going through this not her. Lord knows he deserved it after how he treated her. He hoped the Grievers killed every single creator in that room.

"Help is on the way," Jeremy murmured. "We'll be outa here in no time."

She stared blankly at the ceiling of jumbled rocks. She started doing that a few hours ago, stare and not react to what he said. Like she was asleep with her eyes open.

"Alex," he said shaking her. Moving her a little brought her out of her trance. "Did you hear me?"

She blinked her eyes and turned her head facing him.

"No, what did you say?"

"Max and Natalie found us," Jeremy answered. "They're getting help."

"You think they can bring a steak once they pull us out?" she mumbled. "I want a steak. A nice big juicy steak, and some water,

"What else do you want?" he asked. "The more she talked the better.

"I wanna punch Andy," she answered.

"What?" He laughed. "Why?"

"He's a douche bag," she said smiling weakly. "They pull me out and I see his face I just go 'boom' punch him. You think he'd hit me back?"

"Probably," he said grinning.

"I thought so too," she giggled.

She went silent again. He dabbed her forehead. It was at that moment that he realized he loved her. He didn't know why he was so certain all of sudden. It was a rush of love, like lava bursting out of a volcano.

"Alex," he said. She was fading away. He shook her again.

"Alex, I have to tell you something."

She met his eyes. His heart jumped. He was more nervous then he was in the warehouse.

"I love you," he said. He wished his voice didn't crack when he said it.

She gazed at him. For a moment he thought she faded again until he felt her grip on his hand get a little tighter.

"Are you saying that because you think I'm gonna die?"

"No," he asserted. "I'm saying it because I want to spend my life with you. I want you to be strong. Keep fighting. I'm not gonna lose you."

He held her hand close to her heart.

"Feel that?" he said. "That's how nervous you make me."

"Even I'm ugly like now?" Tears were streaming from her eyes.

"You're as beautiful as ever," he answered.

There were voices on the surface. Lots of voices.

"Jeremy, can you hear me?" he looked up. That was Brenda's voice.

"Yeah!" he replied.

"We're digging you out!" she called back. "Watch your heads!"

Brenda turned to the crowd of Gladers behind her. She looked for Andy. He emerged from the crowd out of breath and stood behind her.

"You wanna split everyone up?" she murmured.

"Yeah," he said and cleared his throat turning to the crowd.

"We'll split in groups of 15. 8 girls and 7 guys. An overseer will coordinate each group. Alex is hurt to we have to must fast. Let's get to it."

The Gladers grouped together and quickly got to work moving the first chunk of rock. No one realized how many people actually made up the glade until everyone was in one place. The fact that the glade doubled in size still took some getting used to.

Wendy came beside Andy helping him move a slab.

"See, they listen to you," she said.

"I suppose," he replied. "But I only spoke because Brenda let me."

The two struggled to move another mass of stone. Jaden came to help and after a few more pulls the slab rolled away.

Maggie didn't know how to approach Sonja. She was struggling with a boulder and everyone else in their group had their hands full. She supposed just going up and helping her would be best. She tip toed over the rocks till she was next to her and pushed. The last thing Sonja expected was Maggie the bitch to help her. The two girls pushed with of all their might, but the rock only slid a couple feet. They stopped to rest for a minute before pushing again clear it from the dig site.

"Thanks," Sonja panted as both girls had their hands on their knees catching their breaths.

"Yeah," Maggie replied.

Sonja fell back on her hands and flipping her hair away from her face.

"You ok?" Maggie asked.

Sonja glanced up at her. Her caramel skin slick with sweat matched her hazel eyes. Her usual big puffy hair was tied back by a black headband. Her thin frame differed so much from the hefty rocks surrounding her.

"My best friend's probably dying below our feet. I'm out here killing myself moving all these damn rocks. The creators suck. No, I'm not ok."

Maggie didn't really know what to say. There wasn't anything to say to make it better. All she could do was help. Push and dig. That is what every single glader did for the next two hours. A rotation of kids went back to bring water and mom and chief went back to the kitchen to make sandwiches everyone.

The sunlight peeking between the debris grew brighter the closer the glader dug. Jeremy pulled at the rocks ignoring the dug coating his face. He could hear their voices. They were so close. Finally a beam of light shined in his eyes and several head shadows were over him.

"Jeremy!" One of them exclaimed.

"Get her first!" he said picking Alex up. She'd been unconscious for over an hour. Multiple hands and arms reached down and lifted her from his hold. Another arm extended and he grabbed pulling himself up to the surface. He shielded his eyes blinking to adjust to the sun's glare. When he could finally see he couldn't believe it. All of the Gladers were here. They all came to save them. He guessed he shouldn't be surprised, but still it was nice to see friends and strangers join together.

"Jeremy," Max said jogging to him. The two gave each a quick man hug patting each other on the back. "Good to see you alive, man."

"Good to be alive," Jeremy returned. He saw a group of Gladers rushing Alex away from the scene. And what a scene this all was. He couldn't believe he survived all this destruction. It was like the end of the world.

"What the hell happened?" Max asked.

Duke, Pam, the Grievers, the head creator, Alex, he wished he'd forgotten it all. Those are memories that'll keep him up at night. He didn't want to talk about it, but holding it in would be a disservice to friends lost and his love. Not speaking would just be plain cowardly.

Been a while but I cranked this one out XD. Look for updates soon. Working on the next part. Trying to keep the time between chapters short.